Today was a rainy day. I have been surprised at how dry it has been, especially since August is supposed to be in the rainy season. Of course, for an area that gets only 14 inches of rain per year (only four less and it would qualify as a desert) - there is not a lot of rain. Many areas as we drive to and from the build site are sand dune areas with small amounts of grass on top of each sandy hill.
Upon our arrival this morning, we were greeted by horses.
Plastering inside and out had progressed on house #4.
House #6 was ready for adding more blocks to the walls.
House #7 was nearing the completion of the walls.
The next step on house #5 needs to be installation of the roof. But as with yesterday, it was too windy and dangerous to handle the pieces of sheet metal - so no roofing today.
Families had done some more digging on the foundations for house #9.
House #8 was ready for delivery of the blocks.
House #10 had some of the stones in place for the footings for the foundation.
We worked until lunch time, when we stopped for good, cleaned and put away the tools - our last time working. More work had been done on plastering house #4.
On house #6, the crew I was with all morning got most of the wall done up to the top.
And on house #8, the blocks had been delivered.
Bainaa, the head of HFH Darkhan, made closing remarks - our team was complemented on how well we worked as a team and on how much we had done. HFH and the families were very thankful for all of our efforts.
Billy, the Global Village coordinator for the HFH office in Ulaanbaatar, translated so that all of the non-English speaking Mongolians knew what was happening.
This time, it was goat meat that had been steamed with the hot rocks.
After the feast, we had live music.
Here is a short video of the music so you can see and hear what it sounds like.
Then we had gifts for the families of houses #3 and #4 - we had made a large group picture of our team (posed before their house) for each family. Our team members also made cash donations totalling nearly 300,000 MNT; the HFH social worker had found what the families needed in their new homes and used the money to get a microwave oven for house #4 and a set of pots and pans for house #3.
The family members then had gifts for each of us volunteers. The members who worked primarily on house #4 with me got a bag of candy and a matching leather key holder and leather knife holder; they also gave me a lovely Mongolian ornament of a chain of elements and an eye symbol. I also received a key ring from Dorjo, the construction supervisor.
Afterwards, the rain had died down and we went outside and took many photos, while saying our goodbyes to the family members.
As we were loading into our vans, I could not help myself - I went over to house #8 to help with a block. One of the builders was one of the firefighters I had met on house #5 and on my tour of the Khutul fire station.
Every day, our commute took us by this little sculpture park that welcomes travelers to Darkhan. We stopped for photos. All of the sculptures are made of metal - the worker is about 20 feet tall.
We had our last team dinner in Darkhan at the Chinngis Irish Pub, next door to our hotel. Besides our twelve team members and Peter from Australia via Ulaanbaatar, we had eleven people from the HFH Darkhan office and those who had worked with us during the week as drivers and translators.
After dinner, we all received certificates of appreciation from HFH and some Mongolian characters in traditional Mongolian clothing. We had gifts for the HFH staff. And Baagee's ten year old daughter performed her contortionist routine - she competes nationally.
After dinner, many of us then went to the Karaoke rooms of our hotel, where ample quantities of beer, wine and Mongolian vodka were consumed - and many good songs were sung.
Upon our arrival this morning, we were greeted by horses.
Plastering inside and out had progressed on house #4.
House #6 was ready for adding more blocks to the walls.
House #7 was nearing the completion of the walls.
The next step on house #5 needs to be installation of the roof. But as with yesterday, it was too windy and dangerous to handle the pieces of sheet metal - so no roofing today.
Families had done some more digging on the foundations for house #9.
House #8 was ready for delivery of the blocks.
House #10 had some of the stones in place for the footings for the foundation.
We worked until lunch time, when we stopped for good, cleaned and put away the tools - our last time working. More work had been done on plastering house #4.
On house #6, the crew I was with all morning got most of the wall done up to the top.
On house #7, the walls were done.
And on house #8, the blocks had been delivered.
To celebrate our work, the HFH staff and family members had prepared a Mongolian barbeque for us and had it ready inside of house #2.
Bainaa, the head of HFH Darkhan, made closing remarks - our team was complemented on how well we worked as a team and on how much we had done. HFH and the families were very thankful for all of our efforts.
Billy, the Global Village coordinator for the HFH office in Ulaanbaatar, translated so that all of the non-English speaking Mongolians knew what was happening.
This time, it was goat meat that had been steamed with the hot rocks.
After the feast, we had live music.
Here is a short video of the music so you can see and hear what it sounds like.
Then we had gifts for the families of houses #3 and #4 - we had made a large group picture of our team (posed before their house) for each family. Our team members also made cash donations totalling nearly 300,000 MNT; the HFH social worker had found what the families needed in their new homes and used the money to get a microwave oven for house #4 and a set of pots and pans for house #3.
The family members then had gifts for each of us volunteers. The members who worked primarily on house #4 with me got a bag of candy and a matching leather key holder and leather knife holder; they also gave me a lovely Mongolian ornament of a chain of elements and an eye symbol. I also received a key ring from Dorjo, the construction supervisor.
Afterwards, the rain had died down and we went outside and took many photos, while saying our goodbyes to the family members.
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| Our construction supervisor Dorjo, homeowner #4 Penja, Billy and his wife Mae from HFH Ulaanbaatar |
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| Billy, Peter from Australia via Ulaanbaatar, Dorjo, Penja, Tom Tom |
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| The Khutul firefighters are rugged guys |
We had our last team dinner in Darkhan at the Chinngis Irish Pub, next door to our hotel. Besides our twelve team members and Peter from Australia via Ulaanbaatar, we had eleven people from the HFH Darkhan office and those who had worked with us during the week as drivers and translators.
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| Six team members had bought blue and white striped shirts to match Baagii, one of our drivers |
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| Dorjo, Bimban, Lara, Jonathan, tom Tom, Boogii |
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| Franz, Thai, Minh, Karla, Erika, Grace, Baagee |
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| Franz, Bainaa, Thai |
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| Dorjo, Bimban, Tonga, Lara |
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| Kim and Susan |
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| Susan, Peter |
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| Grace, Baagee, Baagee's daughter, the HFH social worker (whose name I forget) |
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| Billy, Bainaa, Boogee, Thai, Minh, Karla, Erika |
After dinner, we all received certificates of appreciation from HFH and some Mongolian characters in traditional Mongolian clothing. We had gifts for the HFH staff. And Baagee's ten year old daughter performed her contortionist routine - she competes nationally.
After dinner, many of us then went to the Karaoke rooms of our hotel, where ample quantities of beer, wine and Mongolian vodka were consumed - and many good songs were sung.
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